In contrast, Trump supporters often express calm confidence about how their candidate will fare against Biden.
Trump is “going to eat him up and spit him out,” said Maria Tiernan, 80, a retiree who watched the former president speak at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday. “I’m going to make some popcorn. I’m going to have a party.”
“Trump is dominating him in the debates,” said Emmett Taylor, 67, of Camden, New Jersey.
Some Trump supporters worried that he would not be treated fairly by the debate modes, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. But the high expectations that Trump’s supporters have for Trump’s personal performance and the low expectations they have for Biden could pose a problem for Trump. Trump appeared to try to get ahead of this issue at a rally on Saturday by bluntly suggesting Biden must be on drugs to perform strongly.
“This is a golden opportunity for Biden,” said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist who worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. “If he can run the race and exceed public expectations, he’s going to win.”
Frances Malone, 68, an independent voter from Columbus, Georgia, said she was disappointed that Democrats did not seek a replacement for Biden in this year’s election and was deeply troubled by the possibility of Trump winning the election, especially after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. She said the debates are “something that needs to be done.”
But she has some hope that Biden might surprise her.
“I have this childish desire to see Donald Trump lose his mind in front of the cameras. If he can somehow show his true colors, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to me,” she said. “I hope to see Joe Biden at his strongest.”
Simon Levine contributed reporting.
